I hope you will take a moment to think about what we as a community may lose - WILL LOSE - if we allow our San Clemente Theatre to become anything else but a theatre again. NOT A MOVIE THEATRE but a full-fledged, state of the art PRESENTING cinema and PERFORMING ARTS VENUE.
For many communities the only theatre available to them is city council meetings. Thank heaven for the Carbillo Playhouse.
If politics is the art of the possible, theatre is the art of the impossible. Those who advocate to bring, or even expand the arts, theatre, film festivals, light opera, and the like, where it has never been before, or only in a limited way, have to be admired for taking on such a problematical task. I want to thank the friends of the theatre and the arts, who have sent donations so that the community education can continue. Oscar Wild once observed, "The play was a great success, but the audience was a disaster." It can likewise be said that introducing theatre entertainment into a wilderness is a noble intention, but the community retains the power to defeat the effort by their indifference. The community stands to benefit from the experiment and must be active in the birthing process. That is what is being asked of you. Be a part of the process. Be supportive of it. Your contributions are appreciated. Your offers to join the team and carry the vision on your bumpers, lapels, in your yards, in your day to day conversation are also appreciated.
The very fact that theater has existed for thousands of years and in every culture is testament to its enduring value. Good theatre in an open society allows people to examine the human condition and expand their horizons. Wherever good theater exists, it has been regarded as being of great value. The amazing actress, Julie Harris, said, "God comes to us in theater [in] the way we communicate with each other, whether it be a symphony orchestra, or a wonderful ballet, or a beautiful painting, or a play. It's a way of expressing our humanity."
For our community, from city government to private citizen, not to do all in it's power to embrace this proposed teaching center for cinema and performing arts, by subsidizing it and funding it, is risking missing a precious opportunity. It is a very naive attitude to oppose theatre because it may not be able to guarantee financial success. Put that argument to rest. Do the public schools make money? Do libraries make money? Does a zoo make money? Do the sewers make money? IT'S A COMMUNITY SERVICE…and it WILL make money.
Our town's founder filled his fledgling Spanish Village, nearly 80 years ago, with beauty to soothe the soul. He spoke and wrote in artistic terms full of poetry when describing his new town. Among the first planned structures for the new community were a social clubhouse, a sport fishing pier, a beach club, churches, water works, a school, a hospital and a theatre in it's own entertainment and recreation beach side district. He was a visionary who knew what was needed to feed the soul of a new community and it's pioneers. Don't trade away this original entertainment venue so easily for lack of a vision you have been given one. It should not be sacrificed at the feet of the development du jour of 2006 or '07. Don't reject this vision for lack of money it will come. Donors don't give to institutions. They invest in ideas and people in whom they believe. I believe I have given this community and especially the students, a worthy vision and I'm stickin' with it. I look forward to opening night. My seat is reserved; is yours? Give your new San Clemente Center for Cinema and Performing Arts (SCCCPA) and the historic San Clemente Theatre, a chance to grow up and grow strong in San Clemente.
